RIP Christy Bradford

One of my favorite professors here at KU, Christy Bradford, passed away today. She died of a heart attack. I was in the newsroom when I heard the news, and I was shocked. I didn't know Professor Bradford well, but I respected her and enjoyed the conversations we had.

She came to KU from the Detroit News, where she presided as ME over a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Her experience, in fact, is one of the main reasons I came to KU. This may be one more example of how that was a bad idea. (Here is the News' obituary.)

Professor Bradford and I last spoke last week when I asked her to chair my thesis committee. She declined, citing her desire to take the spring 2009 semester off to relax. She was looking forward to it very much. When I ran some ideas by her, she sat there silently, contemplating, then fired back a million different ideas, that will, eventually, strengthen the product I put out when/if I finish the thesis project. She was a newswoman through and through.

I'll miss her mentorship, and, if I may dare say, her friendship.